Absurd it may look. But a picture of convicted war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee superimposed on the face of moon posted in Jamaat-Shibir Facebook page Basherkella was actually sold to a large number of people as an omen.
And that omen, to these people, is a call to fight the government and free Sayedee, a top Jamaat leader, at "any cost".
This "divine" Facebook picture, posted on Saturday evening by one Carbon Tasnim of Faridpur, was circulated by Jamaat-Shibir activists through cell phones and computers.
The caption reads: From late Friday night to early Saturday, people from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia saw Sayedee's face. Such an image is God's sign that true devotees are honoured in different ways.
To draw attention of the people who do not use internet, announcements were made through loudspeakers of mosques about the picture, report our correspondents from Chittagong, Rajshahi and Bogra.
Besides, many people called The Daily Star staff members from different districts to verify if such a moon was really sighted.
In addition to using such bizarre and cheap photo manipulation for a heinous purpose, the Jamaat-Shibir men yesterday used women and children as human shields in Rajshahi and Bogra.
In the photograph, the black frame of Sayedee's spectacles and silk thread of his cap were mostly visible as the colour of those synthetic materials were more shining than his face.
The pro-Jamaat campaigners also pasted Sayedee's image on the national flag, propagating through social media that he could not be a *******.
The picture of Sayedee on the face of moon drew condemnation from Islami scholars and ridicule from regular Facebook users -- some among them are regular visitors of Basherkella page.
Several Islami scholars termed the use of this fake picture a Jamaat-Shibir ploy to cheat ordinary believers and instigate their religious sentiments.
According to scholars, such an act is a "great sin".
They note that such "sighting" of the moon can never happen in the light of the Quran and the Hadith.
The sun and the moon will be the part of hell after Qayamat [day of resurrection]. Those doing this [trick] are only trying to make Sayedee a sinner and part of the hell, said Maulana Fariduddin Mash Ud, imam of Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj.
It is funny that Jamaat-Shibir is doing this by putting Sayedee's image on a photo of moon, he said.
Moulana Ataullah, senior Nayeb-e-ameer of Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon, said it was not possible to see anyone's image on the face of moon as per Islami shariah.
This cannot happen. It is his [Sayedee's] disciples who have been doing this, said Ataullah, also a son of famous Islami scholar Hafezzi Huzur. Maybe if you think of someone for long, you can see his face in the shadow of a tree.
The picture also prompted online bloggers and activists to make equally absurd jokes using Sayedee's pictures.
In one, for instance, Sayedee was shown as one of the three astronomers to have landed on the moon in 1969. In this picture, Neil Armstrong's face has been replaced by Sayedee's face.
Another showed Sayedee's face superimposed on the bottom of a baboon.
Islam is misused to act terror in Bangladesh by Jamat-e-Islam - CNN iReport
And that omen, to these people, is a call to fight the government and free Sayedee, a top Jamaat leader, at "any cost".
This "divine" Facebook picture, posted on Saturday evening by one Carbon Tasnim of Faridpur, was circulated by Jamaat-Shibir activists through cell phones and computers.
The caption reads: From late Friday night to early Saturday, people from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia saw Sayedee's face. Such an image is God's sign that true devotees are honoured in different ways.
To draw attention of the people who do not use internet, announcements were made through loudspeakers of mosques about the picture, report our correspondents from Chittagong, Rajshahi and Bogra.
Besides, many people called The Daily Star staff members from different districts to verify if such a moon was really sighted.
In addition to using such bizarre and cheap photo manipulation for a heinous purpose, the Jamaat-Shibir men yesterday used women and children as human shields in Rajshahi and Bogra.
In the photograph, the black frame of Sayedee's spectacles and silk thread of his cap were mostly visible as the colour of those synthetic materials were more shining than his face.
The pro-Jamaat campaigners also pasted Sayedee's image on the national flag, propagating through social media that he could not be a *******.
The picture of Sayedee on the face of moon drew condemnation from Islami scholars and ridicule from regular Facebook users -- some among them are regular visitors of Basherkella page.
Several Islami scholars termed the use of this fake picture a Jamaat-Shibir ploy to cheat ordinary believers and instigate their religious sentiments.
According to scholars, such an act is a "great sin".
They note that such "sighting" of the moon can never happen in the light of the Quran and the Hadith.
The sun and the moon will be the part of hell after Qayamat [day of resurrection]. Those doing this [trick] are only trying to make Sayedee a sinner and part of the hell, said Maulana Fariduddin Mash Ud, imam of Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj.
It is funny that Jamaat-Shibir is doing this by putting Sayedee's image on a photo of moon, he said.
Moulana Ataullah, senior Nayeb-e-ameer of Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon, said it was not possible to see anyone's image on the face of moon as per Islami shariah.
This cannot happen. It is his [Sayedee's] disciples who have been doing this, said Ataullah, also a son of famous Islami scholar Hafezzi Huzur. Maybe if you think of someone for long, you can see his face in the shadow of a tree.
The picture also prompted online bloggers and activists to make equally absurd jokes using Sayedee's pictures.
In one, for instance, Sayedee was shown as one of the three astronomers to have landed on the moon in 1969. In this picture, Neil Armstrong's face has been replaced by Sayedee's face.
Another showed Sayedee's face superimposed on the bottom of a baboon.
Islam is misused to act terror in Bangladesh by Jamat-e-Islam - CNN iReport
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